Management and Marketing - Research Publications

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    Taking the long view of the multinational
    Sammartino, A ; Merrett, D ; van der Eng, P ; Ville, S (EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD, 2023-03-20)
    Purpose This paper argues for the benefits to international business (IB) of taking a much longer view at the engagement by multinational enterprises (MNEs) with host locations. Design/methodology/approach The authors showcase a project tracking the engagement by MNEs with Australia over the past two centuries. Extensive archival work has been undertaken to identify and document modes of entry, home countries, industries, operational modes and company types among the MNEs operating in Australia. The authors also describe the shifting nature of Australia as a host location. Findings The authors demonstrate the historical and ongoing diversity of ways in which MNEs interact with a host. They show that different organisational forms have prevailed over time, and that considerable operational mode changes can best be observed when a long lens is adopted. The authors show how these mode changes interact with host country dynamics, and also the broader context of the MNE and its altering strategies. Research limitations/implications The authors urge IB scholars to embrace longer timeframes to capture the complexity of MNEs’ growth and adaptation more meaningfully. Originality/value By taking such a long-run perspective, the authors shed new light on the importance of moving beyond simple snapshots to analyse key IB constructs and phenomenon.
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    Examining the generalizability of research findings from archival data
    Delios, A ; Clemente, EG ; Wu, T ; Tan, H ; Wang, Y ; Gordon, M ; Viganola, D ; Chen, Z ; Dreberb, A ; Johannesson, M ; Pfeiffer, T ; Uhlmann, EL (NATL ACAD SCIENCES, 2022-07-26)
    This initiative examined systematically the extent to which a large set of archival research findings generalizes across contexts. We repeated the key analyses for 29 original strategic management effects in the same context (direct reproduction) as well as in 52 novel time periods and geographies; 45% of the reproductions returned results matching the original reports together with 55% of tests in different spans of years and 40% of tests in novel geographies. Some original findings were associated with multiple new tests. Reproducibility was the best predictor of generalizability-for the findings that proved directly reproducible, 84% emerged in other available time periods and 57% emerged in other geographies. Overall, only limited empirical evidence emerged for context sensitivity. In a forecasting survey, independent scientists were able to anticipate which effects would find support in tests in new samples.
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    Are international small business owners really that different?
    Gundlach, S ; Sammartino, A (Emerald, 2019)
    Purpose: This paper investigates the impact of individual traits and attributes on the entrepreneurial and internationalization actions of Australian businesswomen, many of whom run small businesses. Design/methodology/approach: This exploratory quantitative study interrogates a survey of 323 Australian businesswomen. The study explores two micro-foundational relationships– (1) personality and capability assessment differences between female business owners and their employed counterparts, and (2) the impact of such traits and assessments on their internationalization. Differentials in perceptions of barriers to internationalization are also investigated. Findings: The study finds few differences on key personality dimensions between female business owners and their employed counterparts, or between women who are engaged internationally and those yet to do so. The findings around tolerance for ambiguity and management efficacy are notably counter-intuitive. This prompts the development of testable propositions on the dynamic interplay between perceptions and internationalization. Practical implications: The study questions the distinctiveness of entrepreneurs’ personalities, at least for female businesswomen. Starting and internationalizing a small business may have a transformative effect, however. Originality/value: By including small business owners and employees, women who have engaged internationally and those that are yet to do so, the study avoids some of the potential self-selection and confirmation biases inherent in studies of only entrepreneurs or small business owners. The investigation of individual traits, attributes and experiences as micro-foundations for internationalization motivations challenges existing theories of small business expansion and refocuses attention on how self-perceptions may alter over time.
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    Nominal wage rigidity prior to compulsory arbitration: Evidence from the Victorian Railways, 1902-1921
    Seltzer, A ; Sammartino, AS (Springer, 2011)
    Studies across a wide range of countries have shown that relatively few workers have received year-to-year wage cuts since the Second World War. However, there is very little micro-level evidence from earlier years, when lower inflation rates and a less regulated labour market may have led to stronger downwards pressure on wages. This paper examines wage adjustment at the Victorian Railways, Australia, between 1902 and 1921. It is shown that, despite strong downwards pressure on wages, nominal wages were rigid downwards and a high proportion of triennial wage changes were exactly zero. Even for workers with very long tenure and in years when the national price level declined, wage cuts were rare. We also show that the characteristics of workers whose wages were unchanged were very similar to those receiving wage cuts. Finally, we show that unlike the wages of incumbent staff, entry wages for new junior staff frequently declined from year to year.
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    Flexible Footprints: Reconfiguring MNCs for New Value Opportunities
    Maitland, E ; Sammartino, A (Sage, 2012)
    Powerful technological, regulatory, and economic forces compel the senior executives of multinational corporations (MNCs) to repeatedly re-evaluate and reconfigure value chains in the search for ongoing competitive advantage. However, releasing assets from existing activities and redeploying them to new opportunities is a challenging and poorly understood task. In particular, the standard strategic management concepts of use- and firm-flexibility overlook the crucial international dimension of location. Utilizing examples from GM, Qantas, and a mining MNC, this article argues that strategic flexibility should be consciously measured along all three dimensions. By using the decision tool set out in this article, MNC executives can map their worldwide footprint of strategic roadblocks and opportunities to expand into new markets, divest redundant businesses, and build flexibility to adapt to future challenges.
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    Work and Wages at a Melbourne Factory, the Guest Biscuit Works 1870-1921
    Fahey, C ; Sammartino, A (Wiley, 2013)
    The story of wages in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Australia has largely been told through official published statistics and the experiences of skilled artisans and construction labourers. Utilising wage book data from an early successful manufacturing plant - a biscuit factory - we reveal the earning histories of several neglected groups of Australian workers. We specifically investigate the effects of the 1890s depression, the introduction of a wages board, and shifting demographics on the wages of unskilled factory hands, women, juvenile workers, and commercial clerks. We demonstrate that typical Australian wage series studies have misinterpreted the impact of these phenomena.
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    Dissecting home regionalisation: how large does the region loom?
    Sammartino, A ; Osegowitsch, T (Emerald, 2013)
    Purpose: The paper aims to motivate more rigorous theoretical and empirical specification of the home regionalization phenomenon, in particular the dynamics of shifting advantage over time within a multinational enterprise. It aims to improve dialogue among regionalization researchers. Design/methodology/approach: Contrasting the economizing and behavioral perspectives on internationalization, the paper presents five different archetypes of the home‐regionalization phenomenon. These archetypes are predicated on strategic management stylizations of competitive advantage. Findings: The paper demonstrates that the notion of home regionalization as a dominant and superior model for firm internationalization remains a promising yet under‐explained and inconsistently articulated thesis. By introducing and exploring the archetypes, it shows the diversity of home‐regionalization theses, and the prospect that multiple forms of regionalization may be at play for different firms, industries and locations. Originality/value: The paper presents the full complement of archetypes of the home‐regionalization phenomenon and explores their corresponding assumptions. These explorations open up new empirical and theoretical research avenues for distinguishing any genuine region effects.
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    Decision making and uncertainty: The role of heuristics and experience in assessing a politically hazardous environment
    Maitland, E ; Sammartino, A (Wiley, 2015)
    Heuristics have long been associated with problems of bias and framing error, often on the basis of simulation and laboratory studies. In this field study of a high-stakes strategic decision, we explore an alternative view that heuristics may serve as powerful cognitive tools that enable, rather than limit, decision making in dynamic and uncertain environments. We examine the cognitive efforts of senior decision makers of an inexperienced multinational, as they assessed a potential acquisition in a politically hazardous African country. They applied a diversity of heuristics, some with clear building block rules, to build small world representations of this very uncertain strategic context. More expert individuals drew on experiential learning to build richer representations of the political hazard environment. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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    INTERNAL LABOUR MARKETS: EVIDENCE FROM TWO LARGE AUSTRALIAN EMPLOYERS
    Seltzer, A ; Sammartino, A (WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC, 2009-07)
    This paper examines internal labour markets in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century using personnel records from the Union Bank of Australia and the Victorian Railways. Both employers hired young workers and offered them the possibility of very‐long‐term employment. Salaries were determined by impersonal rules, such as being attached to tenure and to position. Workers rarely received nominal pay cuts. This approach to human resources was designed to retain and motivate workers. We show that all of the classic features of internal labour markets used to describe American firms in the 1970s were present dating back to the Victorian period.
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    Subsidiaries in motion: Assessing the impact of sunk versus flexible assets
    Maitland, E ; Sammartino, A (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2009-12-01)